BELLA SIRENA HOMEOWNERS FEBRUARY, 2013 LETTER

BELLA SIRENA HOMEOWNERS
                FEBRUARY, 2013 LETTER

Dear Bella Sirena Homeowner,

“What is that out on the water?” pointing and shouting at the same
time.

“What? Where?” my dear wife Julie puts her laptop on the coffee
table, sits up from her slouching position on the sofa, and gazes out
upon the sea.

“There!” I yell a little louder, as she looks forty-five degrees east
of where I’m pointing. (You just can’t get good help anymore!)

“Oh, yes, I see it!” Julie says, now in an animated voice.

“What the hell is that?” I ask again. There is something resembling
a boat that has four or more long vertical cylinders bow, stern,
starboard, and port. “It looks like it’s heading west, moving really
slow.”

My wife, always the deep thinker and the logical one, says: “Hey,
bet I know what it is!” Then, she pauses.

Finally, I say, raising my eyebrows and giving her my best pouting
purse of lips: “Well, am I to plead with you for the answer? What
is it? What?”

That got her attention because she does not want to irritate me and
miss out on her long foot rub this night. “I think it’s a platform rig!
I think it’s moving slowly west toward ‘The Reef’ and ‘Mare Blu
Ristorante.’ Hey, I bet they’re getting ready to start work on the
Home Cruise Port.”

Well, that’s what it turned out to be, folks. Julie confirmed that
information with good friend, fellow Tennesseean, and Bella
Sirena homeowner, Bob Roden… He’s one of those smart guys
that knows just about everything. (A smiley face should be inserted
here!)

Now, you’ve got to admit that’s not a bad opening to this February,
2013 letter!

The next day I attended a meeting with our new Puerto Penasco
Mayor, Gerardo Figueroa Zazueta and our new Director of
Tourism, Miguel Guevara. It was a meeting attended by all the
HOA resort presidents up and down the beach, by other city
officials, by the Sandy Beach Resorts Partner, Reyel Taylor, by
Derek Winzer (Director of the Home Port and Marina Projects and

Development for SBR), and other dignitaries. The meeting was
informative, with the Mayor and Director of Tourism fielding a
range of questions and suggestions from the presidents relative to
making Rocky Point more accessible to tourists, softening and/or
eliminating the US media’s fixation of Mexico being an unsafe
travel destination. Many viable points were made, too many to
specify here. Generally, it was an upbeat meeting, and the Mayor
and Director of Tourism seemed genuinely in tune and eager to
make many positive things happen in Rocky Point.

Regarding the Home Cruise Port, there was a slide presentation
with diagrams and images showing how the HCP will look, all
colorful and beautiful in their designs. It was stressed that all
phases of the Home Cruise Port development were to begin this
month. The initial funding of $190,000,000 pesos has not only
been approved by the Mexican Congress but is available for the
development start-up. The total funding is estimated to be
$600,000,000 pesos. Reyel Taylor indicated that the goal was to
have the HCP ready for its first ship and passengers by January,
2015. The bid negotiations with Cruise lines are on-going, and, it
was stated that an Aero-Mexico flight contract will be hopefully
signed by the end of this month. When the contract is signed it is
believed flights ‘from Hermosillo to Rocky Point to Las Vegas/Las
Vegas to Rocky Point to Hermosillo’ will begin three months after
the signing.

It was also disclosed at this meeting that the final touches were
being applied to the new Rocky Point Convention Center, and it is
expected to have its first convention there by the end of the year.

Paving of streets, such as Calle 12 & 13, the road to the
Convention Center as well as a new exit road out of the Old Port,
are scheduled to begin this year.

A fund has also been established for promoting tourism for
Penasco. They hope to be proactive this spring in countering
negative press when the usual travel warnings are posted.

The end of January brought some rare visitors to the bay – whales!.
It is believed that they were Fin Whales and they were close
enough that they could be seen from the balconies. Quite a few
excellent pictures were taken of this rare event. Shows were also
put on by the local dolphins.

Amazing photo taken by Gillie Matthew Panasewicz Puerto Penasco Jan 2013

The Military Check Point will have a more formal, official
presence. There are proposed additional lanes, as well as signage
alerting drivers 1 km in advance of the stop, with an explanation in
English, explaining that it is there for the visitor’s safety and
security.

See these links for an exciting glimpse of what is to come:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Puerto-Penasco-Home-
Port/314630191975317 Home Cruise Port Page

http://www.facebook.com/groups/406201426113616/ Bella Sirena
Homeowners Facebook Page

http://www.azcentral.com/video/2142683502001 A link to
Channel 12’s coverage of Penasco’s whale story. It was also
covered by Channel 10.

It is my hope that you can take from this month’s brief letter a lot
of positive expectations regarding your beautiful investments here
at Bella Sirena.

Wishing all of you the very best,

Bill Chitwood – President – Bella Sirena Board of Directors